The Lost Seas

Noble families of Tyr

The noble families of Tyr are one of the pillars upon which Tyrian society rests. Owning large estates in the area surrounding Tyr, each noble family is responsible for the peasants who farm the land on their estate. Noble families also frequently own or rent townhouses in Tyr proper. Each noble family also contributed a senator under Kalak; however, the Senate was a rubber-stamp body that served no real legislative purpose under the dictator. Traditionally nobles are literate (one of the few literate sectors of society) and often trained in the psionic arts. The families produce offspring who go on to manage their estates, take on the family’s Senate seat, or live dilettante lives; sometimes larger families contribute sons and daughters to the military or the templars, though this is not especially preferred.

With the fall of Kalak and the dissolution of the Senate, the nobles are represented with a seat on the Revolutionary Council (filled by Agis of Asticles).

The roughly 15,000 people (“souls”) who live in the immediate vicinity of Tyr outside its walls are managed by roughly 30 noble families (each of which contributed one Senator regardless of size). Five of these families are major families, each bearing responsibility for large estates encompassing around 1300 souls each. In toto, these five families control around 44% of the population of Tyr’s lands (6500 souls). The major families of Tyr include Asticles, Mericles, Beryl, Turax, and (as of recently) Minthur.

Ten of these families are middle families, each bearing responsibility for sizable estates encompassing around 550 souls each. In toto, these five families control around 38% of the population of Tyr’s lands (5600 souls). The middle families of Tyr include Freydlav, Tyrthani, and Shahram.

The ten or more minor families each bear responsibility for small estates encompassing around 185 souls each, including Korphe and (the now-defunct) Prask.

Noble families do shift up or down in estimation depending on the periodic exchanges of land from one family to another (after political, economic, or even bloody struggles). The major family of Dyan was attainted for its patriarch Murter Dyan’s involvement with the founding of the True, and after his execution many of its lands were absorbed by the middle family Minthur, elevating it to major-family status. For much of recent history, there were roughly fifteen minor families, but in the past several months as nobles were attainted for involvement with the True and freed slaves needed places to go, five kolkhazy have arisen to settle in the lower ranks, with 150-200 souls working each collective farm.

Noble families pay taxes each year in the form of coin, crops, and souls. Each noble family is responsible for extracting the necessary coin, crops, and souls from its peasants or personal treasury. Under Kalak, noble families had to provide slaves for use in paying the Dragon’s levy, but that has been abolished under King Tithian. Noble families do still have to recruit young men and women from its villages in order to serve in the Tyrian Guard; generally, each family has to contribute 1% of its population to the Guard each year (though additional payments of crops and coin can “buy out” the requirement; vice versa, contributing extra people to the military can cancel a family’s coin or crop obligations for the year). This amount rises during wartime, of course.

Some nobles support the continuation of the monarchy as Tyr’s governing political system; many others are in favor of oligarchy.

As Urik’s army approaches Tyr, the nobles have contributed varying amounts to the war effort; check the Google Docs link below for information about their contributions: